Curse of the Carabas
by schillingklaus
Summary: Zoey's gang goes on a graduation trip on the MS Reese across the Caribbean sea. Will they escape the perils of the Bermuda Triangle?


**The Curse of the Carabas**

* * *

**Klaus Schilling**

* * *

**Rating** PG-13

**Disclaimer** I don't own any of the shows or other involved works of arts

**Fandoms** _Zoey 101_, _Drake & Josh_, _iCarly_

**Grenre** Fluff, Family, Friendship,Mystery,Spiritual,Adventure,Horror,Science Fiction

**Summary** Being done with high school, Zoey's gang goes on a cruise to Miami from Trinidad. Will they survive messing with the Bermuda triangle?

**Narrator** Zoey Brooks

**People** Logan Reese – Mandy Franklin, Dustin Brooks – Megan Parker, Vince Blake – Melanie Puckett, Lola Martinez – Drake Parker, Quinn Pensky – Joshuah Nichols, Stacey Dillsen – Eric Blonowitz, Lisa Perkins – Harper, Zoey Brooks – Chase Matthews, Michael Barret – Taryn Davis, ...

* * *

**Chapter 1 Preface**

The story is written for _LiveJournal_- community _Paranormal25_, Claim _Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly_, prompt _famous paranormal case_

The title is a spoof off a movie named _Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl_ which I don't own.

'The Marquis of Carabas' is the fake identity of an imposter in the French version of the fairy tale _Puss In Boots_. He hides his ragged belongings away, and pretends to be a nobleman.

Carabas is also the name of a harmless fool mentioned by Philo Alexandrinus in _Contra Flaccum_ who was forced into a mock coronation ceremony.

* * *

**Contents**

* * *

Chapter 1 Preface

* * *

Chapter 2 Announce

* * *

Chapter 3 Port Of Spain

* * *

Chapter 4 The _MS Reese_

* * *

Chapter 5 First Night

* * *

Chapter 6 Bridgetown

* * *

Chapter 7 Marigot Bay

* * *

Chapter 8 Grisly Discovery

* * *

Chapter 9 St. Thomas

* * *

Chapter 10 San Juan

* * *

Chapter 11 Into The Triangle

* * *

Chapter 12 Breaking The Curse?

* * *

Chapter 13 Fokke's Curse

* * *

Chapter 14 Faithful And True

* * *

Chapter 15 Ship To Shore

* * *

Chapter 16 Montego Bay

* * *

Chapter 17 Back At PCA

* * *

**Chapter 2 Announce**

* * *

My name is Brooks. Zoey Brooks. The story I have to tell began when I was a senior at the renowned Pacific Coast Academy.

As our time at this school was fast coming to an end, we were looking forward to our graduation trip.

Usually, graduation trips were pretty lame.

But that very year ...

I was sitting in my lounge in 101 Brenner hall, together with my room-mates and best friends Quinndelyn Pensky, short: Quinn, and Gloria Maria Dolores Martinez, short: Lola, when jerk Logan Reese, son of renowned Hollywood producer Malcolm Reese, bounded in.

Logan beamed proudly. 'Hey, you won't guess it!'

I shrugged, as did my friends.

Logan grinned. 'As you know, my father is going to shoot a new movie ...'

I grinned. 'Malcolm is always making some movies, somewhere.'

Logan glared around. 'He does, but this one, _Swimming Hotel_[_2:1_] will be different.'

Lola wondered. She was an aspiring Hollywood actress. 'Because I will act in that movie?' She grinned. 'I love being a female main star.'

Logan shrugged. 'Well, we, that is, all of us, will be on board of the _MS Reese_ when we shoot the outdoor scenes, and that will be our graduation trip, all the long way from Trinidad to Miami. Wherever that is.' Logan was no good in geography.

We jumped up, and we started bouncing around like crazy. Aruba, Jamaica, Bermudas, Bahamas, Key Largo, Barbados, ...

Lola wondered whether her clothes were cool enough to be seen on a cruise across the Caribbean. 'I need my fishnet bikini, the latest model. Maybe we will meet Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp. I love Orlando!' Lola swooned excessively. 'But don't tell Vince!'

I shrugged.

Vince had been Lola's fiancé for almost a year, but it was very fragile, as Lola was always watching out for better kissers:

The more, the merrier!

Quinn was a bit sad. She had once been engaged to Logan, although they were a horrible couple:

Quinn was a quirky freak, Logan was a macho jock, they had nothing in common.

Their ship was so awkward and disgusting.

They had finally broken, for the better of Quinn, because Logan refused to learn Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

But Quinn knew that she was going to be very sad during the trip, when thinking back to their months.

* * *

My little brother Dustin was also a student at this school. He was only the eighth grade, and hence he had still four years more to go after my graduation.

I was already sad when imagining that I have toleave him on his own.

My friends always complained that I worried too much about Dustin, but I could not help it.

Alas, already the thought of leaving him here without anyone I trust to take care of him gave me the creeps.

I was sorry when I talked to Dustin, telling him that I was going on a cruise across teh caribbean seas. 'Too bad the trip is only for us seniors.'

Dustin chuckled. 'Logan hired me as an errand boy!'

I was consternated. _Dustin had been working on and off for Logan all the time. The jerk had no good influence on him, and he used him like dirt_[_2:2_]_, but Dustin needed the money. _

Dustin grinned.

I sighed. 'Oh, cool!'

My voice was partly sarcastic, reflecting my mixed feelings.

* * *

Lola beamed when she crossed my ways again. 'I'm going to be the female main star of _Swimming Hotel_!'

I congratulated Lola.

Quinn was not ready to go on a cruise without her portable scientific laboratory.

My fiancé Chase Matthews thought of the cruise as of an anticipated honeymoon trip. 'I've bought myself now swimming pants, do you want to see?'

I grinned. 'Later!'

Michael Barret, Chase's best friend for seven years, sighed, as his grandparents were born in the Caribbean sea, and migrated to the US during the fourties.

The cruise was going to be a sort of a trip back to his roots.

Logan was prepared best for the trip. He started singing.

* * *

When Logan comes to Trinidad  
He gets the young girls all going mad  
Girls promise to treat Logan nice  
Make his life each day a paradise

Out on Manzanella Beach  
Logan flirts with each native peach  
Making all night tropic love  
Sitting all day in sun, and cool off

Drinking rum and mocha cola  
Go down point Cumana  
Both mother and daughter  
Working all for Logan's dollar![2:3]

* * *

Logan was such a gross jerk.

I checked Dustin's luggage, very carefully at that. I insisted in enough sun blocker, as the days in the Caribbean sea were incredibly hot and sunny.

Dustin moaned because I was so overprotective.

* * *

Los Angelos, private Airport of the Reese family.

Our charter jet was rigged and ready to take off into the clear blue sky, bound for Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

Dean Rivers gave a little sermon.

Mr. Bender, one of our favourite teachers, was going to join us on the trip, as a responsible adult. He had to sign the last formalities before he was set free by the headmaster.

The plane 's engines howled at top volume, and we flew way up to the clouds, expecting endless sunshine and fun in the Caribbean, from Trinidad over Barbados, Jamaica, the Hispaniola, the Key islands, and then all the way along the coast to Boston.

Well, that was just a guess, as I had not yet studied the itinerary of our ship, and it was impossible to connect all those places with a cruise lasring no more than a few weeks.

I took the latest novel of my favourite author, Jay Tee Hawthorne[2:4] with me, so I had got something to read. Jay Tee's works were so fascinating and inspiring.

None of us dared to think of the Caribbean isles as being loaded with vicious curses and horror, from the days of the explorers and pirates through modern times ...

* * *

**Chapter 3 Port Of Spain**

* * *

Our plane came down from the clear blue sky, touching the grounds of Trinidad and Tobago.

I was looking forward to listening to some native _Calypso_ tunes while I was ashore.

According to Malcolm Reese, we were going to board the ship pretty soon.

The _MS Reese_ was already awaiting us down in the harbour, rigged and ready.

There was one thing I hated about our schedule:

The night before our departure from Los Angeles, the great young adult rock star Drake Parker had given a concert, here on Trinad.

I would have loved to listen to this young legend of rock.

Four years ago, Drake had performed on the campus of my boarding school[3:1], after some insane efforts of hiring him. He finally accepted my design of shirts for his band as a payment. Unfortunately, he was also a jerk, so I preferred not to get too close to him without reason.

Logan did what he had announced to do, and what we had all expected from him: Make out with all the wayside girls.

That was so gross and abhorring!

I had a hard time dissuading Lola from disposing with her top.

Michael felt somewhat at home, as his ancestry was Afro-Caribbean. Yet, he did not specify it more precisely, maybe that was because the tracks had been somewhat lost.

Chase talked a lot random stuff about the things he noticed on our way. As his span of attentivity was very short, he stumbled into many people and many things that happened to be in our way.

Dustin had found a cool pendant on the market which he wanted to give our mother as a present.

I liked it too, so we bought it together.

Our parents had been living in England for over a year by now, and we had hardly come to see them ever since.

We passed the banana market.

I remember an old Caribbean song, humming it softly.

Michael chimed in, singing aloud.

* * *

Stack banana till the morning come  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
Day-o-ay-o-ay-o  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
Come Mr. tally mon, tally me banana  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
It's six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch!  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
One beautiful bunch o' banana  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
Hides three deadly black tarantula  
Daylight come, and we wan' go home.  
... [3:2]

* * *

Quinn shook her head vigorously. 'Tarantulas are not deadly.'

I glared with disbelief.

Quinn continued explaining: 'The most dangerous spiders living in banana bunches are of the genus _phoneutria_.'

I was subtly scared, and I walked a few steps further from the nearby banana storage.

'The lethal dose of the poison of _phoneutria nigriventer_ is like a fifth of that of the black widow,' explained Quinn.

I felt increasingly creepy.

'Many members of the various species of _phoneutria_ may jump for over half a yard,' continued Quinn.

I hid behind Chase. But how could I know that thewre wasn't such a _phoneutria_ hidden in his bushy hair? I trembled.

Quinn explained that, unlike the black widow, or, as she called them, _latrodectus mactans_, or the Australian _atrax robustus_, _phoneutria_ spiders are able to withhold a major part of their poison, leading to less harmful bites. 'They would starve if they wasted their poison on humans.'

I feigned sighing with relief.

LOgan was grumpy. 'I don't want to hear any more about your insects!'

Quinn glared with disgust at Logan. 'How often do I have to tell you: Spiders are not insects. You haven't learnt one thing in four years![3:3] '

Logan shrugged carelessly.

Quinn spat into the air. 'I'm still ashamed of having dated such an idiot for several months!'

Lola was so close to puking, as she was arachnophobe.

Logan shrugged. 'You will never find a boyfriend if you scare them all away with your nerd talk.'

Quinn glared grimly. 'One day I will find someone who appreciates my knowledge, and who works towards winning the Nobel Prize with me. One day!'

Logan coughed. 'Dream on, you silly spaz!'

I insisted in moving on, as the whole thing was unbearable. And I hoped that Quin was going to find that boy as soon as possible, so she was no longer going to bother us with her talk.

Dustin clang tightly to me, as he was now even more scared by spiders than ever before.

As if Quinn's talk had not been scary enough, our fellow student AStacey Dillsen, a lisping girl from Massachusetts, found us. 'Hey, look what I've made, a model of a banana bunch, made of cotton swabs and white glue!'

Logan insulted Stacey heavily.

Usually, I was annoyed by Stacey, but she didn't deserve getting treated that badly.

Michael swooned that he still felt like among close relatives when he walked the streets of Port Of Spain.

Logan wondered why Michael wouldn't want to stay here, if that was the case.

Alas, Michael was so accustomed to his friends, he could not simply leave us alone.

Lola was a bit disappointed because we still had not met Orlando Bloom. 'Maybe in Barbados? Jamaica? Aruba? Puerto Rico?'

I shrugged. 'If we went ashore on every Caribbean island, we would never make it to Miami Beach!'

Lola swooned as there were sure many attractive actors and models living near the Floridan beach.

So, finally, we reached the harbour, standing in front of the mighty cruiser _MS Reese_. We had to undergo quite a few formalities while checking in. But we were already looking forward to the trip on the luxury cruise liner.

* * *

**Chapter 4 The _MS Reese_**

* * *

So, this was the _MS Reese_. It was a great modern cruise liner. According to the inscription in some table I found on board, it was able to make 20 knots.

Not did I have a clue as to what that meant.

After asking Quinn, she explained, in more detail than I could ever understand, that a knot was speed of one nautic mile per hour, and that a nautic mile was a bit larger than the miles I was accustomed to, not much, though. Quinn also described how the traditional sailors tried to measure the speed.

An officer told us that we were going to sleep and live in cabins of two pupils each.

I hoped to be with either Lola or Quinn, but I got disappointed soon thereafter.

Lola and Quinn came to share a cabin, and neither of them was going to budge.

My assigned mate for the trip was ... _cough_ ... Stacey Dillsen!

Stacey smiled. 'I have to make a sculpture of this ship, all with cotton swabs and white glue!'

I was close to puking into the ocean.

Chase wanted to share a dorm with Michael, but I insisted in him sharing with Dustin.

For, otherwise, Dustin would have been with Logan, and that could never have been any good, as Logan always abused Dustin, treating him like dirt.

Dustin didn't mind, as long as he was paid well.

That's why I had to intervene a whole lot.

Vince and James, my temporary boyfriend of the previous year, shared the next cabin.

And then ... wow!

My eyes bugged out when I saw Drake Parker, along with a bigheaded young adult, who was going to turn out as his manager and step-brother Joshuah Nichols.

Logan explained that they had hired Drake to provide for some entertainment during the boat trip. Alas, Logan also feared that Drake might steal the girls from him.

I chuckled. _Logan and Drake fighting over girls, that was going to be a hell of a fun._ Then I withdrew to my cabin.

* * *

I was busy getting my luggage done.

Stacey talked about her cotton swabs. 'Oh, I've also got my telescope on me. So I may watch the stars at night. Do you know that Saturn ...' She lectured about the rings of that planet.

I didn't want to hear about it. 'Please, go to cabin 1A. The pupils in there are certainly interested in stars and cotton swabs.'

Room 1A was more or less a janitor's closet, comparable to the dorm James had lived in when he was new at my school, and when Michael and Logan refused to accept him as a roomie[4:1] .

Stacey looked oddly. 'OK, I will move away from here, if ...'

_Oh no, Stacey wanted to negotiate. This had already caused a lot of troubles two years ago, when I needed a favour from her._[_4:2_]_, so, hopefully, it was not going to trigger another favour chain. _ I sighed. 'What is it?'

Stacey swooned. 'I will move out, if you get me a date with ...'

I shrugged. 'Not again Logan!'

Stacey shook her head. 'I heard you know Drake Parker very well.'

I choked. _Granted, I had negotiated with Drake in order to get him to play at our school, but that had been four years ago. And he was definitely not in Stacey's league, even if that counted as knowing him very well._ 'You want a date with Drake Parker?'

Stacey swooned sickly. 'Haven't you seen his fingers? Awwwwww his fingerrrrs!'

I shuddered with disgust, but it had to be. 'I'll see what I can do!'

Stacey grinned. She hurled a bunch of cotton swabs aloft. 'Oh, my swabs. One day, I may become Mrs. Drake Parker. Awwwww!'

My head and my tummy rebelled simultaneously at that thought.

* * *

I strolled the quarterdeck. There I saw Drake Parker. I wanted to try to get Stacey what she had requested. 'Hi Drake!'

Drake remembered me. 'Zoey Brooks?'

I smiled and nodded.

Drake sighed. 'Long time no see! Want to come with me to some silent place where ...'

I shook my head. _What a jerk!_

Drake sighed. 'There's something important I have to deal with. When I cared about my luggage, well, Josh did that for me ...' He told me about his step-brother. 'We found something in my luggage that I had not intended to ...'

I shrieked. 'A _phoneutria_?'

Drake scratched his had. 'No, this here is my new cell. It's a Calleat[4:3], invented by my friend Eric Blonowitz. '

I chuckled. _Drake must have thought that a __phoneutria__ was sort of a phone._

A girl of fourteen years poked Drake's ribs. 'Boob! A _phoneutria_ is a very venomous spider!' She glared with disgust.

Drake sighed. 'That's the surprise that had been hiding in my luggage, my evil little sister Megan. She's more dangerous than any venomous spider.'

Megan gazed like a naughty witch, and she poked Drake again.

Drake moaned. 'Well, I need a place for her to stay, and you know the girls here a lot better. Maybe Megan can share a dorm with one of them?'

I had got a brilliant idea. _Easy. When Stacey moved out, I would be alone in my cabin, and I might have shared it with Megan._ 'OK, but you've got to date a certain girl here on deck ...'

Drake grinned. 'Dating girls is my second nature, besides making rock music, baby!'

I chuckled. 'OK, her name is Stacey Dillsen. I'll just have to agree with her one a meeting point.'

Drake nodded. 'Anywhere, any time! Alas, not when I have to play for the pupils here, every second night from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.'

I nodded. 'That should be OK with Stacey.' _Fortunately, he had no clue who Stacey was, otherwise he might have rejected that deal._ I grinned when I returned to my cabin, this time with Megan Parker.

The girl scared me a bit, like a witch.

I hoped to be able to get along with her.

According to a fly paper that I had been given, our next scheduled stop was going to be Barbados.

I thought about the infamous rum of Barbados. But, whatever, although I was sad that we were not going to take the route passing wonderful places like Curacao and Aruba, I was content with any intinerary, as long as it was safe and fun. With a slightly creepy feeling, I guided Megan to our cabin, so she could get her luggage done.

* * *

**Chapter 5 First Night**

* * *

Alas, Megan scared me somehow. She reminded me of someone whom I had seen onceatthe PCA.

I had to think for a few minutes.

Megan grinned when she was done with her luggage. 'May I borrow your lipgloss?'

I shrugged. But then I knew what had been going on.

Paige Howard ... the science geek girl that had almost driven Quinn insane, being better at almost everything[5:1].

I choked. _Could Megan Parker be Paige Howard?_

Megan seemed to be aware of what I was thinking about. 'OK, Brooks, this will remain our secret, will it?'

I coughed. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

Megan grinned. 'Oh, you know very well.'

I sighed. 'Have you been at the PCA for a visit, like two years ago? Using the name ... Paige Howard?'

Megan nodded solemnly. 'You've got it. But you won't talk about it, or the _curse of Carabas_ will hit you.'

I shrugged 'The curse of Carabas?'

Megan glared strangely. 'You really don't want to know what that is!'

I would have laughed about it, if not ... Well, I had not believed in curses or maledictions or stuff, until the Pacific Coast Academy was haunted by the ghost of Charles Galloway.[5:2] Oh yeah, I really did not want to know what the curse of Carabas was, Charles Galloway was scary enough.

I wondered what dress to wear tonight. 'Drake will give a concert tonight. Will you come? I wonder what to dress ...'

Megan glared like a naughty witch. 'No way will I listen to that hell of a noise!'

I shrugged. 'OK?'

Megan nodded. 'Wear sackcloth. And don't dare to flirt with that boob, or bad things will happen. Very bad things!'

Well, I was not up to flirting with that jerk, so I could calm down Megan.

She grinned. 'Very well!'

I decided to wear some simple shirt, and a pair of blue jeans

Lola, or so I guessed, was going to present her new fishnet bikini.

I was so close to puking in anticipation.

* * *

I was sitting in the room where Drake was going to perform.

My fears about Lola's outfit came true.

Quinn was dressed like a pirate from an old movie about the conquest of the Caribbean seas.

Chase was only dressed in Bermuds briefs, and some top. 'Michael says my hair is bushy!'

I sighed. 'Yes, it is!'

'Thanks!' Chase's voice sounded sarcastic.

I kissed his cheeks.

Finally, Drake entered the stage.

Stacey threw her bra on the stage.

I almost puked on my sandals.

Stacey cheered louder and louder.

Drake took the microphone. 'Hello, fans! It's me, Drake Parker! Some of you will know me already. OK, during the cruise, I'm going to sing you a few of my best songs, but also _Limbo_ and _Calypso_ from the Carbou islands.'

Josh corrected him. 'The Caribbean islands!'

Drake shrugged. 'Now, you think that, as a wasp, I don't have a natural feeling for _Reggae_, _Limbo_, and _Calypso_, and this is probably true, so I've hired a new member for my band. His name is Harper[5:3] , his grandma was born on Jamaica.'

Applauded by the masses, Harper entered the stage.

Drake nodded. 'Also, I've heard that another remotely Caribbean singstar, a pre-finalist of _Americs Sings_[_5:4_] is among you. Lisa Perkins?'

Lisa blushed. Then she stood up, and walked up to the stage.

Michael thought that Lisa was flirting with Drake, when she stood up. He howled with agony.

Drake waved around. He started playing the guitar.

Harper backed him up.

Lisa knew the tune, and she started singing.

* * *

Down the way  
Where nights are gay  
And the sun shines daily  
On a mountain's top  
I took a trip  
On a sailing ship  
And when I reached Jamaica  
I made a stop. [5:5]

* * *

Harper and Lisa sang as if they had always practised together, almost making Drake look like a marginal figure.

* * *

I'm said to say  
I'm on my way  
Won't be back for many a day  
My heart is down  
My head is turning around  
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston Town.

* * *

We clapped our hands rhythmically.

The evening was a lot of fun.

Now I imagined what was going to happen when Stacey was going to date Drake.

It was the most absurd couple, ever, barring Quinn and Logan, of course.

Michael seems to have calmed down.

* * *

After the concert, I strolled the deck.

I've heard an excessively brash voice, more powerful and more charismatic than ever before.

'Lift the anchor! Hoist the sails!'

I wondered. _Sails? This was a modern cruiser, not an old galley. What was going on? Anyways, it was apparently the voice of the captain._

I met Lola and Quinn.

Lola boasted with her loose outfit. 'Hey! Do you think that Drake has noticed me? I've heard that he's an excellent kisser!'

I sighed with dismay. _If Lola kept on flirting that recklessly, her relationship with Vince was soon going to shipwreck._

Quinn had noticed the thing with the sails, too. 'It was captain Bernard Fokke[5:6] , or so said Logan.'

I shrugged, not yet interested in lengthy details of the history of navigation. 'OK!'

Quinn scratched her head. 'It's like ... I've already heard that name in nautic history. I just can't remember where and when!'

I didn't want to know any details, anyways. Being sleepy, I waved at my best friends, and I decided to return to my cabin. I was particularly excited about my first dream on the ship. _Grandma had always told me that your first dream on a ship or in a new house comes true ..._

* * *

**Chapter 6 Bridgetown**

* * *

I woke up on a bright, sunny morning.

Megan was still half asleep.

My dreams?

Well, it had been a bit scary ...

I dreamt about the Flying Dutchman.

Certainly, there are yachts called like that, and some of them in the possession of the Reese family, but ...

I've seen many movies about those ghost ships, such as _Spongebob Squarepants _[_6:1_], or Wagner's opera with that name, but they are all unreal, right?

The dream was mere fantasy, right?

On the other hand, I would not have believed in Charles Galloway right before experiencing into his curse.

Was our fun cruise really going to turn into a spooky horror trip on the seven seas?

Megan had heard me talking while I was asleep. 'The curse of the Carabas!' She grinned enigmatically.

How could she have stayed that calm?

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Fortunately, the voices beyond the door were familiar.

I opened for the boys, and precisely for Chase and Dustin.

They came in, with coffee for us girls.

That was really nice!

Well, Chase and Dustin had not yet known Megan, so I had to introduce them.

Megan was upset when I called her Drake's little sister.

Well, Dustin was not keen on being generally known as 'Zoey's little brother', either.

In addition, Drake was such a jerk, giving Megan some reason to feel ashamed.

Dustin smiled sweetly at Megan. 'Zoey, may I hang out with her?'

Megan smiled back. 'Only if you aren't a boob!'

Dustin wondered what that was.

I guessed. 'Probably she means that you should not be like Drake or that Josh guy, her step-brother, if I got it right.'

Megan nodded. 'Drake is such a jerk, and Josh always hangs out with him for no good reason.'

I chuckled. 'Dustin is certainly not a jerk. He is appalled by Logan's bad example[6:2] .'

Dustin nodded solemnly.

Megan grinned. 'Cool! At nine on the quarterdeck?'

'Sure,' replied Dustin with an enthusiastic voice.

I gave Chase a morning kiss. 'OK, we will hang out a bit, too, won't we?'

Chase nodded. 'I have to see Michael first, though.'

I agreed with him.

* * *

After breakfast, I entered the sun deck. I saw Drake.

A gentle breeze hit the _MS Reese_ from aslant.

The ship was bound for the port of Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, the 'bearded island'.

The young rock legend was about emptying his stomach into the open seas.

I asked Drake whether he was sea-sick.

Drake shrugged. 'I ain't, usually, but ...' He appeared upset. 'Stacey makes me sick! And that's your fault!'

Megan had followed me by a few yards of distance. As she noticed Drake's disease, she grinned. 'Cool!'

I imagined that Drake has trashed Stacey pretty fast, and that she was now mourning all over, weeping her butt off.

Lola had already entered the deck, looking for a beach chair. She was wearing mirrored sun glasses, and yet another bikini of the loose sort.

I made a few steps. There I saw Stacey.

She appeared really cool for just havcing been dumped by Drake.

I shrugged. 'Hi, Stacey!'

Stacey grinned. 'Oh, hi, Zoey!' She showed me her new telescope. 'I've just been made the second navigator of the ship!'

I couldn't yet care any less, although I should, probably, as the navigation of the ship should be trusted to professionals, not to some teenagers whose hobby happens to involve telescopes and star-gazing.

Fortunately, Stacey was only the second navigator.

The first navigator was a reliable professional, wasn't he?

I stopped wondering when Malcolm Reese took the megaphone. 'This early afternoon, we are going to dock next to Bridgetown, Barbados. You may leave ashore upon further notice by the ship's staff. Please be back until tomorrow, 9 a.m.! And, in no case, leave the boat without your passports or equivalents, and your board passes!'

I wasn't sure whether Chase and I were up to going ashore.

We had got a fantastic panorama, being able to oversee the busy harbour, and the markets near the port.

I had told Dustin and Megan not to go ashore without an adult or senior's company.

Finally, Chase was at my disposal.

We decided to watch the harbour from the deck of the ship.

Quinn passed by. She lectured me about the history of Barbados, the brief Spanish or Portuguese settlements, the English colonial times, the massive import of Afro-American slaves, the intensive cultivation of sugar cane, which lead to Barbados as the world's metropole of rum, slave rebellions and abolitions, and the gradual emancipation from the British rule while remaining a member of the Commonwealth even past that time.

While Quinn's explanation happened to sound interesting if enjoyed in sufficiently small doses, their wallowing massivity annoyed me more and more.

'What a boobette,' remarked Megan.

Chase feigned not being annoyed, but he could not fool me at all.

Stangely, while the commands of Captain Fokke were often heard, he hadn't yet been seen by any of us pupils, barring possibly Stacey who did not talk about it.

Well, I concluded that Stacey had seen him because she had been made second navigator, so ...

So far, I had assumed that the first navigator was a reliable professional, but now ...

Along came Drake, along with his friend Eric Blonowitz, the guy who had invented that new cellular phone.

I had always assumed Mark del Figgalo to be the greatest dork of all, but now I was taught a different lesson.

And did that annoying freak just try to hit on me?

Well, that was the most clumsy, and most desperate attempt that I had ever come to see, from any boy.

Not even Firewire could top that, and I had been exposed to that guy for almost four years.

The only exception was Miles Brody's attempt to date Nicole[6:3], but I hadn't been the target.

Now I understand why Nicole had been mad with me, and she had not talked to me for three whole days.

Chase, slightly freaky himself, did not notice what was going on.

Fortunately, Drake restrained Eric, as much as possible. 'Go to the ship's library! I've heard there are some books in there!'

Eric obeyed.

I sighed. _And that freak was our principal navigator? Now we were lost, and doomed!_

* * *

**Chapter 7 Marigot Bay**

* * *

I had not left the ship while docked at Barbados, but spent a lot of time with Chase on the sunny deck.

Chase did not know what to think about navigation being in the hands of Stacey and Eric.

Megan and Dustin had made a trip to the harbour market, under the custody of Mr. Bender. They always giggled and whispered a lot when I turned my back unto them.

Should I have been worried? After all, I was glad that Dustin was hanging out with Megan.

Both of them had had bad experiences with their former lovers, i.e. Dustin's ex-girlfriend Trisha[7:1] , and Megan's ex-boyfriend Corey [7:2] , and now they knew what they valued and cherished in each other.

Whatever the situation, we were now bound for the island of Saint Lucia, another so-called windward island.

I had no idea why the islands we were passing by or visiting were called windward, until Quinn told me that it had to do with the prevailing winds in the Antilla regions, and their consequences for the trade routes of sailing ships of the Europian merchants and explorers that made it into the Caribbean islands.

But we were on a motor ship, weren't we?

OK, Captain Fokke had cried for hoisting the sails when we were about leaving Trinidad and Tobago, but that must have been a joke.

I was still worried because nobody has ever seen the captain, barring maybe Stacey and Eric, whom I preferred to avoid asking about whatever, as their freaky demeanour had always scared the living hell out of me.

* * *

The _MS Reese_ had docked at Marigot Bay.

Drake Parker sang a song about _Marigot Bay_, 'Paradise of the Blue Lagoon'[7:3] .

It was a white European product, nothing comparable to _Calypso_, but it touched me anyways.

The song was about a found and lost love on this dream beach, lost over night.

I had to think back to the times where I had been dating James Garrett. Right before my junior prom, I had trashed James, probably because I sensed that Chase was coming back.[7:4]

Ever since, James and I had hardly met, never talked to. each other.

Although I had told Chase about James, I was nowhere near sure about whever Chase ever forgave me.

Chase loved me too much to be upset, but he was always vary evasive when the term _James_ was mentioned.

Anyways, the whole thing with James was still haunting me through bone and marrow.

Chase and I, we had agreed on going ashore at this romantic bay.

Alas, given the reminiscences that I have just been talking about, this was going to be way less joyful than I had wished a trip to this wonderful beach to be.

Lola and Quinn followed us.

According to Lola, Vince had to do some work-out on deck.

Alas, she kept on looking seductively at Drake Parker. Hell, she was laying it really thick.

And Drake was not unpleased by the attention of what he deemed 'the hottest teenie actress — ever.'

I really sensed a bunch of troubles ahead.

I figured that Josh Nichols tried to tone Drake down, but he had been infected by Drake's demeanour, although to a minor degree.

According to Megan, Josh was interested in chemistry and physics. Maybe he should help Quinn with her experiments, so they don't fail as usual?

I mean, really, who wants the whole ship to blow up because Quinn's laboratory malfunctions, and I was sure that Quin was doing some secret experiments somewhere on board.

Logan was, once more, occupied with his favourite job, making out with native peaches.

Michael was sad, because his Lisa had started spending more and more time with Harper, preparing songs for the evening.

I liked their calypso performances, hence I was not saying that it was bad that Harper and Lisa worked together, but at the cost of alienatuing Lisa from Michael? I wondered whether that could go well without a bang.

Megan and Dustin ran by us.

I wanted to know whether they were joining us in the guided harbour tour, or going to return to the ship with Mr. Bender.

They giggled, deciding on returning on board.

Dustin mentioned that the captain of a ship on the international waters is endowed to conduct weddings. While saying so, he glared both at Chase and me.

I coughed. _He's already thinking about me and Chase marrying?_ I wished that I had been over the James thing already, but it kept on threatening me more or less like the legendary sword of Damokles.

Megan giggled insanely. 'I think that Drake should finally settle down ...'

Dustin nodded. 'Lola would be great for him.'

I coughed. _Drake was not even able to keep a girl down for more than a few weeks, and Megan knew that, and she always complained about it, how did she even dare to make such a suggestion?_ 'Do you really think?'

Megan and Dustin nodded vigorously. 'They would be Hollywood's new dream couple.'

I shrugged. 'Maybe ...'

Dustin was a bit disappointed because I failed to share his enthusiasm.

I waved unto Dustin, but we had to move on.

* * *

Back in my cabin.

The guide through Marigot Bay had been wonderful, but now I was dead tired.

Megan grinned. 'Do you think often about James?'

I nodded. I had not talked unto Megan about James, but Dustin used to spread that story like wildfire.

Megan grinned. 'Then it's time for you to marry Chase, and get over the James crap.'

I sighed. 'It isn't that easy ...'

Megan shook her head. 'It is. Dustin and I, we have already been looking for wedding rings. The Virgin Islands will be a great place to look for them ...'

My eyes bugged out.

'You did what?' I was a bit consternated, as they were apparently planning my own wedding behind my back.

Megan glared diabolically. 'In a few days, we are going to touch Bermuda triangle, and many ships happen to disappear there. That's a curse! If you don't marry Chase before that happens, your soul will be cursed forever on the open seas, just like the Flying Dutchman!'

I shook my head. 'Flying Dutchman? Bermuda Triangle?' _I had heard about those fables, but they were just that: fables, weren't they? Alas, Charles Galloway's cursed tomb had been beyond belief, until I was caught in it._ I started trembling.

* * *

**Chapter 8 Grisly Discovery**

* * *

We had left Saint Lucia behind, and were bound for leeward Virgin Islands, more precisely St. Thomas.

This was a bit of a longer trip than the previous ones, but it was journey across the empty oceans, there were still many islands scattered on our way, such as Martinique.

So far, I deemed all of the islands beautiful, and Chase agreed wholeheartedly, or, maybe, he just had no opinion, and did not care to contradict me, as had been often the case.

Too bad there was no heli trip planned, so we could see the islands in the ocean from above. That would have been wonderful.

Chase liked to torture Michael by pouring cold water all over him, when he was lazily sitting in a beach chair, cultivating his tan.

Logan and Michael were running a stupid bet.

Logan claimed that all girls on the Virgin Islands were virgins, and that's why the islands were called like that.

Michael was of a different opinion. He thought the name related to the state of Virginia, thinking that the isalnds were colonialised from there.

Quinn laughed about either of these stupidities, and she just called Logan and Michael perennial idiots.

Chase had been employed as their witness.

I tried to talk Chase out of that idiotic office, yet for little avail.

But Megan said that Logan and Michael were going to pay dearly for their tasteless bets.

* * *

Fortunately, our ship was on a safe course, wasn't it?

Alas, navigator Eric Blonowitz was haunting the sun deck, looking for more girls. He held a compass in his hands.

_Did he try to impress the girls with his navigational instruments?_

'One day, Craig and I, we walked Los Angeles Central Mall,' explained Eric, annoying a few girls. 'True Story!'

I shrugged.

Said Craig had been Eric's best friend for over a decade.

Luckily, Eric walked away again. He met Lola. 'Hi, do you know that I once knocked out Drake?[8:1] '

Lola looked grimly. She didn't believe him. _A nerdy freak may never mess with someone like Drake._

Eric said that he had been explaining a martial move unto Craig he had seen in a movie.

Firewire, the closest thing to Eric hitherto known to me, passed by. 'I've always wanted to be Jackie Chan.[8:2] '.

Eric smiled, and he explained the martial move to his new best pal.

Along came Stacey. 'Hi, Lola, may I spread my blanket here? The guys and girls where I've been so far have chased me away.'

Her lisp was penetrant as ever, explaining all that, along with her cotton swabs.

The back swing on Eric's elbow went astray, and it hit Stacey's chin, knocking her out.

Stacey rejoiced in seeing stars when her head hit the wooden ground. 'Wow! That's Orion!' But then she remained silent.

Usually, Eric would have become in terrible trouble for knocking a girl out, but, in the case of Stacey, that didn't really matter, did it? He wondered why nobody reacted to this.

Lola chuckled, and then she walked away.

Erice bowed over Stacey. 'Are you OK?'

Dazed Stacey sighed. 'I'm accustomed to getting hit by all sorts of objects, so you really don't need to worry.'

Eric dragged Stacey clumsily into the shadow, allowing her to recover faster from the impact. 'You like seeing stars, too?'

Stacey smiled. 'Oh yeah, my telescope is my best friend. Stars are the next greatest thing, after cotton swabs!'

Eric shrugged. 'Do you want to watch the stars with me tonight? I've heard there will be some wishing stars tonight.'

Stacey smiled sweetly. 'Sure! Do you want to know my favourite planets? I love Saturn, because of the rings.'

I wondered who was directing the ship when Stacey and Eric were loitering on various decks, talking about stars. _Scary, wasn't it?_

* * *

Quinn explained that Virgin Islands had been named thusly by Chris Columbus because of the legend of St. Ursula and her pack of maids.

Alas, another discovery by Quinn was going to give me the creeps.

She had finally figured who Bernard Fokke was: He had been so incredibly fast sailing from Indonesia to Europe, around Cape of Good Hope, he had been supposed to have made a deal with the devil. 'That was 400 years ago.'

I shrugged. 'He would be dead for centuries.'

Quinn shrugged. 'I know. But what if he's a revenant?'

I would have laughed hysterically, hadn't I experienced the curse of Charles Galloway. 'You really mean ...'

Quinn sighed. 'I wish I could say that this is all unscientific. It probably is, but ... was Galloway scientific?'

I gasped.

Quinn trembled through and through. 'The legend of the Flying Dutchman is based on sailors like Fokke.'

I remarked that Fokke was a Dutch name.

Quinn nodded solemnly.

Lola walked past us. 'Hi! Would you please palm my back with sun blocker?'

I grunted. 'OK!'

Quinn gave me some sun-blocking lotion she had just invented.

I should have known to be careful with Quinn's inventions, but, anyways, I squirted Lola's back.

Lola smiled with glee when she felt the cool lotion on her skin. 'Who is the flying Dutchman? Oh, I know it, it's the nick of a Dutch soccer player that plays for the San Diego Earthquakers? I bet he's a good kisser.'

Quinn and I, we looked aghast. 'It's a doomed ship ...'

Lola shrugged. 'Ouch, ships are worse kissers than soccer players.'

So, I hoped that the name of the Captain was a mere accident.

Alas, we've been half a week on board of the ship, and none of us had ever come to see the captain, barring maybe Stacey and Eric. We had just heard him giving commands that made no sense whatsoever on a modern cruise liner, as opposed to a sailing ship as it had been used centuries ago.

* * *

Megan grinned. 'Do you now see that we're doomed?'

I wished that I could have contradicted her, but it was very hard. 'Probably ...'

Megan nodded. 'So, marry your Chase, or experience the wrath of the Bermuda triangle, and end up like many a doomed sailor who...'

I squealed. _Was everything a trick by Megan and Dustin, to get me and Chase married during the trip? But even they had not been able to choose many of the particular circumstances ..._

* * *

**Chapter 9 St. Thomas**

* * *

Megan had already made me nervous with her talk about the mystery triangle.

I had read in the ship's library about various incidents that had happened in this region, limited by a triangle whose vertices were Puerto Rico, Miami, and the Bermuda Islands.

The latter were far out of our way.

But the next scheduled stop after St. Thomas was San Juan on Puerto Rico, and Miami was the final destination of our cruise.

Quinn had tried to tell me that everything had found a scientific explanation. But she had said the same thing on our trip home from Redstone Gulch.

I saw Logan making out with Mandy Franklin[9:1], or, as we coined her, _Makeout-Mandy_, as she was recklessly flirtatious.

She was one of the cheerleaders.

I had heard that Logan had already been up to smooching with Mandy when he was still dating Quinn, he even wanted to take her to the prom, pretending unto Quinn that he was doing that in order to keep their dirty affair a secret, but Quinn must have smelt the smoldering match, inspite of not knowing that Logan had really been into her. _That was so weird! Fortunately, the stupid time when Logan and Quinn appeared as a couple were now all but ugly history._

Lola snuggled up to Drake.

I wondered why Drake did not take a chance on Makeout-Mandy as well.

The simple reason was that Mandy was horrified by the dorkish demeanour of Drake's step-brother Josh.

I shrugged. _What a shallow bitch, the right thing for Logan to waste his time on._

Lola was hanging out an insane lot near Drake, and, strangely, she was welcome in his vicinity, with or without fishnet clothing or expensive make-up.

I wondered why this was the case, as Drake was usually a sucker for women with that sort of outfit. _Was Megan right, and there something like a soul affinity between the two of them?_ I did not really believe in stuff like soul-mates, but I was a bit puzzled.

Lola's affinity toward Drake had not escaped from Vince.

He didn't do much about that, as he was secure in the knowledge that his football player's charm was enough to keep Lola by his side, but he looked increasingly grumpy.

Quinn taught us a few lessons about the history of the Virgin Islands, from the times when Columbus's feet touched this beach, through the English colonialisation, slavery, and fights for relative autonomy.

I yawned. _Somehow, the history of all the Caribbean islands we had passed by or visited was alike — sugar cane plantations and negro slaves_ Alas, I was amused that the island had been in Danish hands for a long time, until the US government bought it during WW I. I had almost imagined the Danish as cool, stout men of the North, the totally unfit for the tropical regions.

Eric and Firewire played with action figures.

I had not seen Dustin in quite some hour, and I asked Drake whether he knew of Megan's whereabouts.

Drake and Josh told me that Megan and Dustin were strolling the marketplace with Mr. Bender, so there was no reason to worry. 'They should be back on deck by now, as your teacher said that it was just an hour's trip.'

I shrugged, hoping that they had not used the time in order to prepare some diabolic surprise for us older pupils, especially their siblings.

* * *

Back on board, I saw Megan and Dustin disappearing in no time.

Thye must have been hiding something. Had they really bought wedding rings for us? They didn't have that much money.

Well, Logan had employed Dustin as an errant boy, but he had never used to pay enough for that.

I wanted to ask the jerk about that, but Logan was apparently busy with... other things, probably involving "Makeout-Mandy".

And, as before, there was no trace of Captain Fokke.

But Stacey crossed our way. 'Hi Zoey.'

'Hi,' replied I in some superficially polite, yet tortured manner.

Stacey showed me another instrument. 'This is an astrolabe. It's used for navigation with the help of the stars.'

I sighed. 'So, why don't you use your cotton swab sextant?' Right then, I did not know whether astrolabe and sextant were meant to be together or as alternatives, or whether either of then succeeded and obsoleted the other, or whatever.

Stacey pouted. 'My cotton swab sextant is only there in order to cuddle. It can't be used for navigation!'

I shrugged helplessly. I wouldn't have trusted in a cotton swab instrument, anyways.

Quinn reached me. 'Oh, an astrolabe is a really ancient instrument, invented by Hipparch, the discoverer of the precession, used for navigation, geodesy, astrology...'

I shivered. 'Astrology?'

Stacey smiled. 'Do you want to know your horoscope?' She started calculating and fumbling with her astrolabe. 'When the sun enters your eighth house, while moon and mercury form a trine, ...'

I shook my head. 'Don't bother with me!' I did not know aboiut any of Hipparch's achievements that Quinn started praising. I only knew one thing: I wanted to get away from those freaks, the sooner the better.

Stacey pouted.

* * *

I lay on my bed.

Along came Megan.

I asked what they had been doing on St. Thomas.

Megan chuckled. 'Nothing exciting.' She whistled in a way that made it obvious that she was hiding something.

I shrugged. 'OK, then I won't tell you whether Drake and Lola have kissed.' I knew that she was too curious to know about their potentially blossoming relationship.

Megan sighed. 'OK, we've bought wedding rings, for three couples ...'

I gasped. 'Dustin ad you, you are still too young to...'

Megan chuckled. 'For you and Chase, for Quinn and Josh, and, finally, for Drake and Lola.'

I choked. 'Where did you get the money from?'

Megan chuckled. 'They were cheap. Well, they aren't even real wedding rings, but who cares, love is all you need!'

I sighed. _Megan was probably right, but I had always dreamt about a wedding with style, and nothing improvisational like that arranged by your little siblings..._

* * *

**Chapter 10 San Juan**

* * *

The _MS Reese_ was now docked in the impressive harbour of San Juan on Puerto Rico.

Megan urged me into believing that this was the last rest before the great gales.

So, Puerto Rico was one of the tips of the Bermuda triangle.

According to the bulletin board, our next stop was at Cockburn on one of the so-called _Turks and Caicos_, a group of islands next to the more well-known Bahamas.

And this meant that we were definitely going to slither along one edge of the infamous triangle, on a ship commanded by some guy nobody had come to see, and steered by two freaks without experience.

Oh yes, Megan was right, this was going to be one hell of a creepy trip.

But why, oh, why, pray tell, did it have to be us to be doomed on such a Flying Dutchman?

* * *

San Juan, or, officially, as Quinn dared to tell me, Municipio de la Ciudad capital San Juan Bautista, was definitely worth a visit.

I had always wonder way the island was called _Puerto Rico_, the rich port, when most of the Puerto Rican migrants in cities like New York City were anything but wealthy, or that was my impression from _The Westside Story_ and similar movies.

This triggered another long, and totally boring, lecture of Quinn dealing with the history of Puerto Rico during the last five centuries, as it had obviously been known to the Spanish explorers ever since.

Chase and I, we walked the streets, enjoying the fantastic atmosphere.

Logan made out with Makeout-Mandy, taunting me for still sticking to a loser like Chase, although I could have had James Garrett.

Firewire crossed our ways. Whereas I was still embarassed by my wallowing thoughts about the Bermuda triangle, he exhibited a totally different attitude. 'The end is near!' He cackled with excessive glee. 'It is just as in Superman...'

Chase coughed. 'Firewire is confusing a few episodes of Superman...'

I shrugged. 'Does it matter?'

Chase shook his head. 'See, I've been exposed to those toons before I came to the PCA, as I helped my uncle in his book shop, selling those things.[10:1]. Of course I'm not proud of that, no more than Logan would ever be proud of what he had learnt about chemistry from his grandpa, the professor at Caltech.[10:2]'

I nodded solemnly. 'You're so right.'

I saw Vince, talking with someone over his cellular phone.

He was apparently talking about Lola, and that he was worried because she apparently preferred to hang out more with Drake thah with him.

Alas, I did not know that Vince was talking to James, and they compared their experiences.

That would have upset me to no end, as I had made a clear cut at some point, while Lola really kept on refusing to admit to her new love. But I just walked on, ignoring Vince.

I asked Chase what he thought about Dustin's and Megan's plans of getting us married during our trip.

Chase chuckled. 'They are just dreamers. I'd really prefer to have my parents, my uncle, and my cousins with us, and ypu wouldn't want to miss out on your parents, I guess.'

I nodded solemnly. 'That's perfectly true. I don't understand how Dustin would not want to have mom and dad with us at my wedding.'

Chase agreed. 'Maybe he's really scared by the rumours about a curse?'

I sighed. 'Probably. Megan must have convinced him of there being a curse. I know, Megan is scary on her own, but I get along well with her as a roomie.'

Chase smiled. 'Dustin is in good hands with her. So, what do you think about the curse?'

I shrugged. 'If there hadn't be Charles Galloway, I'd laugh about it. But ever since, I'm a bit more careful.'

Chase shared my opinion. 'That's so true. And, just as Logan has tried to market Charles Galloway, and the proof that he died at Redstone Gulch, he's going to try to squeeze as much as possible out of the fable with the Bermuda triangle, looking for the remains of lost people...'

I shuddered with disgust. 'Are you sure that Logan hasn't learnt zilch?'

Chase nodded sadly. 'It's easier for me to avoid slamming an arbitrary obstacle standing in my way, than it is for Logan to learn from bad experiences.'

I sighed. 'You're probably right.' I kissed my fiancé tenderly on the cheeks.

Just as Chase turned around, he hit a bypassing vegetable cart. He floundered, staggered, and keeled ovcer, hitting the ground mercilessly.

At least I could prevent his head from hitting the street. I sighed when I helped him back on his feet.

Chase was dazed. 'Oops!'

I smiled, hugging my sweetie.

Then we saw Lola, walking after Drake. She had plastered a particularly seductive smile.

I shook my head. 'That's going to cause terror!'

Chase shrugged. 'I still think that it's Vincent's plan to get back at me. It would serve him well if Lola trashed him for Drake.'

I glared aghast. 'Now you're paranoid.'

Chase shook his head. 'Dustin has overheard rumours from Vincent's little sister, Ashley.[10:3], that she was going to assist her brother on his quest for revenge.'

I knew Ashley Blake. _She was one of the actresses on board, a kid star for half a decade. and she shared various classes at our school with Dustin. Just a few months ago, she had continually tried to abuse and seduce Dustin shamelessly. Needless to say, it was down to my tough efforts that Ashley was forced to back away from my precious little brother._ 'Oh, Ashley. Isn't she just a bit upset because her brother is dating her rival Lola?'

Chase shrugged. 'I don't know. But I know that I can't trust Ashley further than the distance to the next lamp post.'

Bang!

Chase crashed into the next lamp post.

I licked Chase's bruise tenderly.

Chase featured that he was now going to run into things on purpose.

I laughed.

* * *

Having left San Juan, Megan reveiled unto me that she had once been Ashley's best friend.

I was consternated.

But Megan promised that she was not going to permit that Ashley got Chase hurt.

I trembled. _Not everything was in Megan's hands, was it?_

* * *

**Chapter 11 Into The Triangle**

* * *

The _MS Reese_ was still bound for the Turks and Caicos. According to Megan, we were now cutting the Bermuda triangle.

I went over and over through a long list of fayal events reported in this region.

Were future generations going to read our names — or at least our ship's name — in the reports?

* * *

I woke up on a clear blue morning.

Megan yawned. 'Are we still in the Caribbean sea?'

I scratched my chin.

Megan chuckled. 'Maybe we made some jump through a rupture in the space-time-continuum... whatever that means.'

I had no glue, either. _The sea looked still the same as last night._

Megan snuck up to me. 'Now, before we get away up in the triangle, you might want to know more about Paige Howard?'

I was definitely curious.

Megan explained, 'OK, It has to do with one Melinda Crenshaw, former girlfriend of Josh.'

I had never heard that name. had I? _Wait... Drake once mentioned a __creature Mindy_. 'Is that the one called _creature_ by Drake?'

Megan nodded solemnly. 'She had beaten Josh in every science fair. Josh was really humiliated.'

I could understand that. 'Just as Quinn was humiliated when you, I mean, "Paige Howard", came and fixed her inventions.' Megan nodded. 'I don't understand anything about advanced science, well, I do understand enough to operate certain tricky devices, but that doesn't make me a genius. But Mindy is.'

I nodded. 'OK.'

Megan had got a picture of Mindy on her. She rendered it unto me.

I took a look at the photograph, and I was flabbergasted. 'That is Melinda Crenshaw?' _I did remember the face. It belonged to a girl named Stasie who had been at PCA for a short period, like four years ago. She had plagiarised and marketed my backpack design._[_11:1_]_. Apparently, her name was a fake, too, like so much..._

Megan glared at me. 'Is something wrong?'

I told her about the unpleasant story.

Megan smiled. 'I know. And she told me that you destroyed her business, and the saddle of her bike. That cried for revenge.'

I went pale. 'Do you want to say that "Paige" was Mindy's revenge?'

Megan nodded solemnly. 'Alas, there is one real Paige Howard that does live in Colorado, as I said. She's a class mate of my friend Jessica.[11:2]. Mindy invented the power reactor, but, in order to sneak it past Josh, she became Paige's ghostwrite.'

I gasped and choked. 'That's sick!'

Megan sighed. 'That's why "Paige" insisted in getting you as a guide through PCA.'

I was still consternated.

Megan explained that she wore a micro chip, and she used it in order to receive instructions from Mindy. 'I did not know that it was Mindy's intention to blow up PCA. I really thought she just wanted to make Quinn jealous... until it was too late, and Mindy left me without any instruction to stop the machine.'

I threw up.

Megan wiped the puke off the floor. 'Sorry!'

I did not know what to think about Megan. _Mindy had really made her believe that it was me who had plagiarised her design._ I remembered when I got back at Logan for having spied on and made fun of us[11:3], that wasn't any nicer than what Megan had done, given that she did not know how dangerous the whole thing was for real. _Megan would have killed herself off, had Mindy's plan been successful._ I slumped onto my bed.

Megan told me that Dustin knew already about her action, and the whole Paige stuff. 'He thinks it was cool. He wouldn't have minded a little explosion, though.'

That didn't surprise me.

Dustin used to love little accidents and slips, but sometimes, he was really scred, and he came to me crying.

* * *

It was time to enjoy the sun.

I decided not to tell anyone else about Mindy's attempted revenge.

Quinn and Josh were sitting in the sun, discussing Albert Einstein's _general theory of relativity_.

Lola adjusted her fishnet bikini. She was apparently waiting for Drake to pass by. 'Oh, hi, Zoey!'

I smiled at Lola. Or, at least, I plastered a fake smile, as I was still scared by Megan's confessions.

Lola started bantering senselessly.

I was still waiting for Chase. _We had been appointed , but he was late, as usual, probably becasue he had run into some flag staff._

Suddenly, Michael came along. 'Hey, Zoey!' he was out of breath. 'Are green clouds normal in the Caribbean?'

I shrugged. 'You feel at home here, why should I know it any better? But I doubt there are any green clous, anywhere.' _But there had been green clouds at Redstone Gulch, after we had left the tomb of Charles Galloway._

Michael pointed at the horizon. He, too, was scared by his memory of Charles Galloway.

Quinn and Josh interrupted us, explaining 'Clouds don't have any colour, they just refract various differences of light in different manners, and, according to the place where you stand, hthey may appear in colours, because you oly see part of the sun's light, the rest gets deviated elsewhere.'

I shrugged.

Quinn and Josh took a look the horizon. 'Hey, the clouds are luminescent...'

Quinn finally remembered Charles Galloway. 'Oops, no good...' She told Josh about her experiences with the astral ectoplasm of Charles Galloway.

Josh wouldn't have believed it, hadn't it been Quinn to say so, as he trusted a fellow scientist more than an average kind of guy.

We all noticed that the billowing astral slime was still growing, or maybe it was because we were getting closer...

Eric Blonowitz assured until us that we wrere still on the right track. 'We will reach the Greater Turks by midnight.'

Alas, I was not so sure we were ever going to reach a safe haven.

Logan and Mandy grinned.

Logan explained that he was lucky because he was finally able to make a movie that proved that people disappeared in the cursed triangle. 'I've just secured the exclusive filming rights for us.'

Makeout Mandy grinned seductively at Logan. 'You're cool!'

I was disgusted by Logan's demeanour.

Firewire passed along, booming 'The end is near!'

I sighed. 'Was this really the end?'

* * *

**Chapter 12 Breaking The Curse?**

* * *

The situation had appeared to calm down, but this did not leave us at ease.

We were not sure whether the mist was gone, or whether we had been swallowed insided it and just did not notice it.

Quinn explained that recraction and dispersion of light may make a mist look different from the inside than from afar.

I trembled with agony, as I could not follow Quinn's scientific explanations. _Where were we slithering into?_

Josh explained the same thing again, but twitching like a fool, he was no more able to appear anywahere comprehensible than his fellow scientist.

The nearest of the islands of the Turks and Caicos was in sight.

I was hoping for a day of rest.

But, all of a sudden, Malcolm Reese appeared with a megaphone.

I was not sure whether that meant any good...

Malcolm announced 'Attention! Attention! The harbour administration of the Turks and Caicos has just denied us access! We continue our course to the Bahamas. There is no need for panic. We are still chock full of supplies from San Juan, and we may call a helicopter for our rescue, any time we need to.'

Why, oh, why, did Malcolm's message not do anything to turn me down?

Some of the pupils have heard rumours about political scandals on the islands of the Turks and Caicos, and they guessed that all foreign ships were locked out for that reason.

Alas, we noticed various ships displaying stars and stripes trading merrily in the harbours we passed by.

Alas, some of the ships that noticed us reacted with dismay and panic.

So — apparently — we were still surrrounded by billowing green ectoplasm.

It was like the eye of a tornado, the calmest place in the midst of chaos and destruction.

Firewire cackled with glee. 'I always knew it. We are doomed, just like in _Superbat and the Princess of Oblongata_.'

I did not understand why Firewire liked the situation.

OK, he had alwways known it, but if the ship was doomed, it meant his end as well, didn't it?

* * *

I hid in my cabin.

Megan snuck in. 'Hi!'

I trembled with fear. 'Are we trapped forever in this green tornado?'

Megan shrugged. 'We are under a curse, but you know what to do...'

Dustin stormed in. 'Chase just vomited all over my blanket...'

I feared that way worse things than a bit of vomit were in front of us.

Megan hugged Dustin.

Dustin squealed 'Will you now marry Chase? Please, hurry up!'

I coughed. 'You really think that this would break the curse?'

Megan and Dustin nodded solemnly.

* * *

We followed Dustin into Chase's cabin.

I closed my eyes, stammering 'Chase, I have to say something...'

Chase gasped. 'Do you want to wipe my puke?'

I shook my head timidly. 'Maybe that, too, but I haven't come for that.'

Chase, who had dug his head in his pillows, stood up, and he started slouching over to us.

Dustin held my hand. 'Come on, ask him!'

Megan nodded vigorously. She glared.

My heart stood still. 'Chase... do you...'

Megan poked me. 'Bring it on!'

I sweated.

Dustin held my hand tighter. 'Come on, sis, tell him!'

My heart beat at quadruple pace. 'Chase... do you want to marry me?' I paused, looking at Chase.

He was flabbergasted.

I continued, 'I mean, here on sea?' My head was spinning around like a record. _Had I actually been able to say that? How was Chase going to react? Laugh? Run away? Puke even more? Any of these would have been more than understandable._

Chase just looked aghast.

Now Dustin grabbed him. 'Come on, Chase, you've always wanted it, all those five years...'

Megan sighed. 'Give him a few minutes. I'm going to prepare the boobs for a triple wedding...'

Of course, as my best friends Quinn and Lola were involved in Megan's plans by the side of the "boobs", I was totally curious. But I was still stuck chin-deep in the hoopla, waiting for Chase's further reactions.

Still stammering, I tried to explain the situation to Chase.

Dustin helped me. 'What do you have to lose, Chase? You may still have a real wedding party when everything is over, but if you don't marry Zoey now, we will all be cursed and doomed!'

Chase trembled. 'OK, if you say so, I mean... Malcolm said that the supplies are enough for two more weeks, but...'

The megaphone sounded, announcing that the administration of Nassau had just closed down the harbours of Bahamas for us.

Chase choked. 'OK, Zoey, if we go lost, then we better go lost together.'

I plastered a smiled when Chase threw his arms around me. I still wasn't sure what I was about slithering into.

Dustin bounced around.

* * *

Megan dragged Drake and Josh in.

Josh twitched. 'But I only know Quinn since a few days...'

Megan glared. 'True, but I know that you've been waiting all life long for a girl like Quinn who can really work with you on your first Nobel Prize.'

Josh twitched. 'Yeah...'

Dustin explained that — unless Josh married Quinn now — there was not going to be any time left to win any award.

Megan nodded.

Josh and Quinn had to agree.

Drake and Lola had no qualms smooching on the deck, as if they were already married.

I asked Megan what happened to Josh's first fiancé, Mindy Crenshaw?

Drake grinned. 'The "Creature"? Long story...'

Megan promised to tell me later on, after the whole trouble.

I sighed deeply.

Now we all just needed to face Captain Fokke, so he could conduct our triple wedding.

Fact was still: Nobody among us had seen him, as of yet!

I was still totally dizzy. _It was totally not the wedding with Chase that I had always dreamt of, or the expected fun cruise at the end of our highschool time..._

Megan grabbed me. 'Let's go and see the captain...'

Even more excited than before the moment of asking out Chase, I followed Megan...

* * *

**Chapter 13 Fokke's Curse**

* * *

And there he was: Captain Bernard Fokke. He was dressed in outfashioned clothes. Alas, he did not look older than a usual mid-aged guy.

Megan was going to tell me that the captain of the Flying Dutchman was only going to age one day each seven years, the day he was allowed to visit ashore.

I did not understand how this was possible, but it made somewhat sense.

So powerful was the emanation of the mystery captain, I could hardly breathe.

'So, you want a marriage on board?' asked Fokke.

I nodded solemnly. _How did he know that? Had Megan told him ahead?_

Chase stammered some incoherent phrases of no real significance.

Lola squealed.

Drake still could not understand it. He had been slowly yet thoroughly accustomed to the thought of one girl every other week, Lola must have had such a strange effect on him.

Quinn tried to give a scientific answer, but she didn't get far, so she just agreed.

Josh twitched, but that was business as usual.

The captain grinned. 'I've been waiting for this for over three hundred years. Your papers, please...'

I sighed.

We fetched our passports from our pockets and rendered them unto the captain.

He nodded demonically. 'OK, that will do. I guess you can't wait? Nice weather out there...' He chuckled sarcastically with glee.

I moaned.

We were apparently in ahurry, given that still none of the nearby island allowed us to dock, and we were apparently drifting into the island-free regions of the triangle... Only there, on the international seas, was a captain allowed to conduct weddings.

Fokke declared that he had to leave his wife behind in order to sail to sea, even more when he was a captain, always on the road from Holland to Batavia and back. 'I wanted to be at home faster. So I really tried to rush the trip, rigorously at any cost.'

I was scared, and I noticed that the same was true for Chase, Quinn, and Josh.

Just Lola and Drake were cool with everything.

Fokke told us that he had stood on the bridge of the galley, yelling, 'Obey me, ye winds, listen unto me, ye waves, for I am the son of Poseidon, the ruler over the seven seas!'

I coughed. 'And that worked?'

Fokke grinned. 'A guy in the watchout, who was a tall blond rake whom I had not yet noticed on board of my galley, told me to take me by the word. The winds and the waves bowed to my will, whatever the weather or the time of the day. But the prize was high.'

We looked quizzically.

Fokke sighed. 'Poseidon was never going to give his "son" away, not to the realms of Gaea, nor to Hades. I was thitherfrom trapped on the ocean forever.'

I gasped.

Fokke wagered that a wedding on board of the ship was going to break his curse, so he could finally disappear for good.

We glared aghast.

* * *

It had been an exciting day.

And just two nights separated us from the triple wedding.

Megan smiled. 'Shall I play the _Bridal Chorus_ for you?' She petted her oboe.

I shrugged. 'If you want to ...' I was really not in a great mood...

Megan grinned. 'Isn't it strange that the same composer who wrote that wedding tune also wrote that opera _The Flying Dutchman_?'

I had not known that. 'Who did?'

'Richard Wagner,' told me Megan. 'The wedding stuff is from the opera _Lohengrin_.'

I shrugged helplessly. 'Good for Wagner...' _Very interesting, though..._

Megan chuckled.

'So, how did Wagner's story end.' wondered I.

Megan grinned. 'His fiancé got herself drowned in order to be with him for good... It seemed to be the only way she could stay true to him.'

I gasped , and I almost threw up.

Megan shrugged. 'I could wait for Dustin for seven years, or so...'

I was flabbergasted. _Was she that serious? Maybe this was creepy, but, OK, good for Dustin, for his former girlfriends certainly lacked any sort of reliability whatsoever._

Megan told me to get some sleep. 'There's not much time left in order to prepare the wedding.'

I sighed deeply. _Megan was so right._

* * *

The next day, I refused to leave my cabin.

Megan and Dustin cared for me.

I heard that Josh, Quinn, and Chase had got similar problems.

Just Drake and Lola took everything all easy.

I was sad because I could not prepare appropriate wedding gowns for us girls.

Megan sighed. 'Please, you are the master of improvisation, or so said Dustin...'

I had to agree. 'OK, let me see what I can do within the next twenty-four hours.'

Megan chuckled.

Dustin brought me breakfast. 'I will sing the chorus when Megan plays her oboe.'

I chuckled.'That's sweet.'

Dustin begged me to catch the garter, with Megan grabbing the bouquet.

I wasn't even sure whether there was anything like _the belt and the garter_ at our triple wedding, but I tried to promise it, anyways.

I heard voices from outside my captain.

Logan and Michael were apparently of different opinions.

Logan wanted to make a movie of the wedding thing, as a proof that it happened.

Michael thought that we better kept it as private as possible, as there was going to be a real wedding celebration when we were back ashore.

I had to agree with Michael. 'It's really the best now to get just done with it.'

Firewire, whom I heard yelling across the deck, was apparently upset. 'I will object to the wedding. Zoey should have asked me first!'

I grumbled.

Alas, what nagged me most, were the expectable reactions of James Garrett and of Vince Blake.

Was Vince really giving up on Lola that easily?

Granted, the two of them had already started living apart from each other before the graduation trip.

It wasn't much of a surprise.

And Ashley was certainly not unlucky if her greatest rival Lola finally released her brother Vince.

And James? Was he really over with our unmotivated break-up?

Virtually, we hadn't met in quite some time, and not really talked since junior prom, but it was a creepy thought.

Hence there was no way for me to know how he felt about me and Chase.

I gasped when I remembered that I still had James's locket.

Was that a bad omen for my wedding?

* * *

**Chapter 14 Faithful And True**

* * *

As expected, I had hastily gobbled together some sort of outfit for our triple wedding.

Chase remembered the days when he was a flower girl at a wedding of one of his uncles.[14:1] 'That was embarassing, wasn't it?'

I shrugged.

Michael walked over to us. 'Chase, you need to cut your hair before the wedding!'

Chase gasped. 'What?'

Michael squealed. 'You can't go into your new life as a married man with your old shrubbery.'

Chase glared strangely at Michael. 'My bush is none of your business!'

Michael and Chase started wrestling each other.

Logan watched and cried, 'Beat 'em up! Come on! Harder!'

I glared at Logan. 'Shutup, jerk!' I jumped right between Michael and Chase.

Megan tried to tell me not to do so, but it was in vain.

I achieved seoparating the wrestlers, but I damaged my not so brilliant outfit even more.

Dustin sobbed.

Lola was flabbergasted. 'Are the cams on at our weddding? I can't risk to appear on TV with a torn gown!'

Ashley Blake giggled mercilessly when she heard that.

I wondered whether Ashley was up to something bad.

Malcolm Reese had been declared ready to guides us brides, against Logan's will. Alas, he had not got any good feeling. 'My wedding with my fifth wife had only had 2 days of preparation, and it was in a helium balloon above the desert of desolation. We had to think about what to throw away in order to keep our altitude above the ground.'

Chaunsee, the faithful servant of the Reese family[14:2], remembered that moment. 'Fortunately, it was not a real balloon trip, it was in a blue box for a movie.'

Malcolm looked at his butler. 'Shush, nobody needs to know that!'

Chaunsee shrugged. 'As you wish, Sir!'

More and more pupils entered the deck where our wedding was going to be performed.

Mr. Bender was there in order to countersign a bunch of papers.

Stacey arrived with some cooton swab construct in her hands. 'My wedding gift for you...'

I plastered a feint smile. 'Thanks!' I coughed. _The thing was so going to go right into the next rubbish bin._

We were ready to go to our positions.

Logan still tried to make fun of Joshuah Nichols. Hitherto unbeknownst to me, he had ridiculed him for many a day, worse than Megan had ever done in several years.

I stood next to Quinn and Lola.

Thinking about it, we girls from 101 brenner hall had dreamt quite a few times about a common triple wedding.

But this dream never included a sinister captain on a cursed ship, a cloud of swirling ectoplasm, or whatever Quinn wanted to call it, or badly strained, almost torn gowns and suits.

Megan unzipped the scabbard that contained her oboe.

I had tried to talk Michael into accompanying her on his flute.

But Michael was totally embarassed.[14:3]

Dustin wanted to sing the chorus.

That was understandable, but his voice was about changing, thus we could expect some troubles.

Megan started the chorus.

* * *

Faithful and true  
We lead ye forth  
Where love's triumphant shall crown ye with joy.  
Star of renown  
Flower of the earth  
Blest be ye both far from all life's annoy.

* * *

Malcolm started leading us ahead.

Chase's best man was Michael. Drake's and Josh's best man was Eric Blonowitz.

Lisa Perkins was our common maid of honour, sort of, but she had already announced not to dance with Michael, and certainly not with Eric Blonowitz.

The latter was totally understandable.

I had already previously noticed that Lisa and Michael had finally lived apart.

Lisa was apparently addicted to Harper Harris[14:4], but she did not yet admit to it publically.

Dustin kept on singing.

* * *

Champion victorious, go thou before!  
Maid, bright and glorious, go thou before!

* * *

Captain Fokke was unusually dressed in black linen.

I wondered whether it was really a wedding ceremony, not a funeral of some sort.

We stood in front of the captain's desk.

Fokke asked. 'Dost thou, Quinndelyn Pensky, want to take noble man Joshuah Nichols as your lawfully wedded husband,... until dystopia?'

Quinn nodded. 'Sure!'

I didn't even know what dystopia was. _Was he going to ask me the same stuff?_

Fokke continued, 'Dost thou, Joshuah Nichols, want to take the honorable virgin Quinndelyn Pensky as your lawfully wedded wife,... until dystopia?'

Josh twitched. 'Yeppers!'

Fokke concluded, 'in virtue of the office bestowed upon me by the gods of the storms and the sea, I declare ye to be husband and wife. You may now kiss...'

Quinn grinned brightly.

Josh cheered, twitching even more.

Logan booed.

A lightning flashed, and another thunder roared.

Dancing bones seemed to float on the water.

A kiss was impossible under this circumstances.

Fokke proceeded to the next couple. 'Do you, Gloria Maria Dolorasa de Camacho y Martinez, want to marry present champion Jared Drake Parker...' He didn't need to finish his words.

Lola cried, 'of course!' She jumped and threw Drake vigorously to the ground in order wallow over him and to kiss him. Unfortunately, she still had to wait for a few moments.

Fokke asked Drake the critical question.

Drake coughed. 'Sorry, I wanted to marry Lola!'

Twitching Josh grabbed Drake. 'Drake, but Gloria Maria Dolorose de camacho y Martinez is Lola. Lola is a cozy form.'

Drake scratched his head. 'Oh, yeah... sure!'

Fokke declared them married. Apparently, he did not have to tell them to kiss.

Finally, my time had come.

Fokke asked me the critical question.

I sighed. 'Sorry, what is _dystopia?_'

Quinn grabbed me. '_Dystopia_ is _a black utopia_,' whispered she into my ears.

I shrugged. 'OK, thanks, sure, I will!'

Logan yelled, 'Loser!'

Fokke addressed Chase in the according manner.

Chase scratched his shrubbery. 'Ah, yeha, I mean, that's why we are here in the first place, right, we are?'

I grunted. _Chase could never make his mind up for real... but I loved him for that._

Chase concluded. 'Yes, I will...'

I sighed with relief when Fokke finally declared us hubby and wife. _Finally, we were over with it..._

Chaunsee held the rings. Upon Malcolm's order, he rendered them unto us in order to exchange them.

More flashes showed up.

Quinn explained that it was just St. Elmo's fire, which was harmless as such, but we should expect worse.

Fokke sighed with relief when this business was done. He looked up to the watchout, which had not been there before our wedding ceremony. 'There he is again, the blond demon...'

I dared to take a look. 'James?' _Since when was James a demon? Apparently, he looked like the blond tall rake that Fokke had seen when his curse had begun._

Megan walked up to me. 'Zoey, you better believe it. It is a demon.'

I was consternated.

James grinned, booming diabolically, 'OK, your time is over, Fokke!'

Withing a few minutes, Bernard Fokke transformed into green ectoplasm which rarified and vanished altogether into nothingness.

I was even more consternated. _Lost on the ocean, in the international waters in the no-man's zone in the Bermuda triangle, without a captain..._

And Megan owed me a bunch of explanations. _What did she know about James? Was he really a demon?_

* * *

**Chapter 15 Ship To Shore**

* * *

James grinned with mischief. He glared at me. 'OK, you have married the wrong guy. But you're mine, as you've accepted the locket!'

I glared with dismay. 'You may have the junk back, anytime!' _I had never really wanted it._

James cackled with glee. 'That's too late...'

I shrugged. 'I may throw it into the ocean...'

James grinned. 'Yeah, great! Try to do so...'

Megan nudged me. 'Don't do that! Don't you know about the ring of Polycrates?'

Chase shrugged.'Our wedding ring is not by some Greek migrant... it may be patchwork, but definitely not...'

Quinn nudged Chase, talking about ancient Greek usurpator Polycrates who threw his ring into the sea, trying to please the gods, but the ring was swallowed by a fish that was later caught and butchered in the king's kitchen. 'The gods and the sea had thus denied the pathetic sacrifice...'

Lola shrugged. 'Cool! I'd love to find a jewelled ring in my sushi...'

I glanced at Lola.

Lola sighed deeply.

I grunted, 'so, what do you want, James?'

James cackled hysterically with glee. 'You know that I still want you, Zoey Brooks! And now you can't escape...'

Vince showed up. 'OK, Chase, revenge is now mine, and you can't escape, either!'

James and Vince highfived.

Chase and I, we trembl;ed with despair.

Vince explained, 'Chase has gone too far when he denounced me unto Dean Rivers... today is pay-back.'

Mr. Bender announced that Vince was now going to be sent off the school for good.

Vince taunted Bender, 'aw you pathetic teacher. Neither you nor your wretched boss may hold a candle to me and my powerful ally from hell!'

Malcolm Reese tried to protest, too, but he was apparently somewhat seized by sea sickness.

Michael and Logan were too cowardish to help mer and Chase.

Ashley grinned. 'I helped my brother to feign being nice, by means of acting. This way, he was able to deceive your foolish principal.' She cackled demonically.

James remarked, 'originally, it was Ashley's plan to get Vince to date Zoey, breaking Chase's neck on site, but I talked them into making it slower and more painful for Chase by having Vince date Lola, instead...'

Vince nodded solemnly.

Lola went pale. _Not only had she, the greatest of all teenage actresses, fallen for an old acting trick, but it had been her eternally worst rival, Ashley Blake, who had taught same acting tricks unto Vince._

I had been pale for quite a few minutes already, and I felt like petrified or freezing to a block of ice.

Chase trembled with excessive agony, changing colours every other second.

Dustin yelled, 'you can't do that to my sister and her hubby!'

Josh twitched next to Quinn. 'I still don't understand...'

Vince and James giggled diabolically, 'That little dwarf with a tiny worm in his pants wants to menace us?'

I sighed. _At least, Dustin had the couraged that Logan and Michael, the cowards of the county, missed sorely._ 'Dustin, don't get yourself endangered!' _Alas, where was Megan?_

A few seconds later, Megan showed up again, with the obnoxious lockets in her hands.

I wondered what she was up to.

Megan grinned. 'OK, Satan, you remember this?' She held the locket aloft. 'We may not simply give it away, but maybe we can destroy it otherwise...'

James cackled with sadistic glee. 'No way!'

Megan whispered some magic words when she threw the locket onto the planks. 'Vanish!'

A flash was summoned from the sky, hitting the amulet.

James thundered,'No! That's impossible!'

The medallion started to glow in a strange green light, before it transformed into green ectoplasm.

Dustin cheered enthusiastically for his girlfriend.

Megan sighed with relief. 'Magic Malika[15:1] was right, the trick works!'

I gasped. _That was impressive, where did Megan have those powers from? And who was Magic Malika?_

James was consternated.

Vince and Ashley tried to urge James to do something, but the demon's powers were apparently severely weakened.

Before Megan answered my question, she shot another bolt at James, dissolving him equally into a billowing mass of ectoplasmatic mist.

Most of us sighed with relief.

Vince and Ashley ran away.

We hadn't got the energy to look after them right away.

I sat down. _What a terrible scenario!_

Megan walked over for me. 'Do you now believe me that James was a demon?'

I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. 'Who or what is "Magic Malika"?'

Megan smiled and explained, 'Magic Malika is my witchcraft teacher. She's still a teenager, but she's very wise and powerful.'

I shrugged. _So, Megan was basically some sort of a witch, and not an angel, as I had thought. And fortunately Malika was such a master of witchcraft._

* * *

Our miraculous salvation notwitchstanding, I was totally exhausted.

I heard that both Malcolm Reese and Mr. Bender were now sea-sick.

Logan just complained because there were no active cameras to record the dramatic event. 'I would have made billions at Hollywood!'

I grunted with disgust. _Apparently, Logan couldn't really think about anything but money and girls, could he?._

Dustin and Megan took care of me.

Dustin remarked, 'Don't you now move in with Chase in his cabin? You should, as you are married.'

I looked aghast.

Dustin explained chuckling, 'So I may share this cabin with Megan.'

I chuckled. _That was so obvious that Dustin was up to that._ 'No way, as long as we are still on sea, the sleepingarrangements will stay as they are.'

Dustin moaned with disappointment.

I sighed when I pondered my words about us still being out on the ocean. _Lost in the middle of the Bermuda triangle, without a captain, without healthy responsible adults, just with two dilettantic navigators. Were we ever going to set our foot ashore again?_

Drake and Lola stumbled in.

Megan wondered what was going on.

Lola explained, 'Quinn and Josh try to contact the next islands and coastal cities by means of radio, but... no success. GPS is dead, too, whatever that is...'

I sighed. 'We are totally cut-off civilisation, it seems...'

Lola nodded. 'As long as I have got Drake, it doesn't matter!' She snuggled up to her "lawfully" wedded hubby.

I shook my head.

Drake shrugged. He took his guitar in order to perform some song.

* * *

Ship to shore  
Do you read me anymore  
This line is bad and fainting  
Ship to shore  
Answewr my call  
Send me a signal  
A beacon to bring me on.[15:2]

* * *

In this moment, I passed out.

* * *

**Chapter 16 Montego Bay**

I kept on being alternatingly dizzy or unconscious fior quite some hour, amybe a whole night or a bit more, who knows.

Dustin and Chase did not budge from my side, but the latter was slightly lulled, as well.

Dustin tried to awake me by means of shaking.

Finally, I felt able to try to speak again.

Dustin called immediately for Lola, Quinn, Megan, Drake, and Josh.

Megan reported that the situation on deck was totally out of control. 'Half of the pupils panic, the others have been more or less apathetic like you.'

I shrugged helplessly.

Apparently, nobody could answer where we were.

According to rumours, we had passed by various tips of land, yet without the trace of an ability to go ashore.

There was no captain to give orders, andyways. Malcolm Reese and Mr. Bender were still unconscious and sea sick.

Megan decided that a walk in the fresh air was going to help me a lot.

I didn't dare to contradict. _Were we still lost on the ocean, reaching for land?_

* * *

The sun shone brightly above me, but, after all, this may have been an illusion.

The waves were fairly calm, and the horizon was aglow.

Lisa Perkins crossed my way. 'Hi!' She dragged her new boyfriend, Harper Harris, around.

I greeted her back.

'Isn't it a nice day?' wondered Lisa.

I nodded solemnly.

Suddenly, excessively twitching Josh Nichols boomed, 'land ahead!'

I choked. 'Was our salvation in sight?'

Pupils tended to make wild guesses where we were, some of them already deemed us in Europe or Afrika or Asia.

The hot Caribbean sun must have fried their brains to some sizzzling goo, really!

Lisa, on the other nad, appeaered to knew it better. 'It's Jamaica!'

Harper nodded vigorously.'Yeah, I know it! We're floating towards Montego!'

Lisa jumped excitedly up and down. 'Indeed, we do! That's where I was born!'

I smiled with relief. _Finally we were in a known spot!_

Lisa commanded Harper to get his guitar rigged and ready. 'Come on, let's sing the _Montego Bay_[16:1].'

Harper nodded when he strummed his instrument.

The new dream couple of calypso rock made the air vibrate rhythmically.

* * *

Chase you'll see me when the MS Reese strands  
Keys to the sports car will be in my hands  
Adjust to the driving, and we're on our way  
It's all on the right side of Montego Bay.

* * *

We tried to chime in.

* * *

Come sing aloud  
Sing the Montego Bay!  
Whoahahhahahahahaha!

* * *

We clapped along.

* * *

And Zoey, I'll greet you like a sister would  
You think you remember, but it's twice as good.  
Like how cool the rum is from my platinum tray  
You'll thirst to be thirsty on Monetgo Bay!

* * *

I grinned gleefully. 'Cheers!'

The other pupils waved their hands overhead.

Stacey and Eric stumbled across our way, falling immediately into each other's arms.

Stacey smiled. 'We did it! We navigated from somehwere north of the Bahamas to Montego Bay in only twenty hours!'

Eric nodded solemnly.

Quinn calculated briefly. 'Was that posible?'

I sensed that there was something fishy, by Poseidon!

Still, we had no clue as of whetehr the Jamaikan authorities were going to give us the permission to anchor and go ashore at Montego Bay.

Quinn affirmed that the board radio was still out of service. 'Josh, Eric, and I, we have tried for several hours to fix the hamm radio!'

Drake still refused to understand how a vegetarian like Eric was able to deal with hamm radio.[16:2]

Eric and Stacey seemed to be able to help it.

Eric held two flags in his hands, a red one plu a white one.

I concluded that he was proficient in the communication via the flag alphabet. _What a freak! But, unfortunately, sometimes even the most stubborn freaks were useful for something, weren't they?_

Malcolm had written a message for Eric to transmit to the approaching patrol boat of the coastal guard.

The message appeared to explain our situation.

Mr. Bender also told us that Malcolm was going to call for a fleet of his helicopters from his Floridan base in order to fetch us from Jamaica, once we were permitted to go ashore.

Eric whispered something to Malcolm.

Logan's big dad took his megaphone. 'Attention! Attention! We have just been permitted to anchor in Montego Bay! We will get evacuated from their by means of helicopters within 24 hours. No panic! Only get your most essential belongings together, as their won't be much space in the helicopters!'

Rumours spread among us pupils like wildfire.

* * *

Finally, many days after our departure from San Juan, my feet were able to touch agin solid ground.

I wondered whether I was still able to remember that feeling.

Oops!

But after a few steps, I had regained my safety.

Alas, Chase had nothing better to do then lamming with his nose into a flag post that had been erected at the harbour entrance.

Mr. Bender did not hesitate calling Dean Rivers. He had a lot to tell him, and he was not sure whether the headmaster was going to believe any of it.

Malcolm Reese, in turn, called his branch in Miami, just as he had promised us, so they could send us an air transport from Jamaica to Florida.

Dustin still wanted to catch the garter.

I smiled. 'When we're back in California, we will have a real wedding party, regardless of whether the marriage on sea was valid or not. And then you will catch your garter, and Megan will catch the bouquet. Promised!'

Dustin beamed brightly.

* * *

We had boarded the helicopters.

It was quite crowded, indeed.

Alas, I had got the feeling that someone was missing.

Mr. Bender and Malcolm Reese checked us.

Some further scrutiny resulted in the knowledge that Stacey and Eric were the ones missing, and, even more, nobody remembered having seen them since they had been going ashore.

Consequently, Eric and Stacey must have been left on board of the MS Reese.

Mr. Bender was worried. He called the harbour police.

Our departure from Montego was thus delayed for quite some hour.

Mr. Bender returned. 'Hard to believe, but they have deliberately declared to stay on board instead of joining us!'

I was suspicious.

Megan shared the idea. 'It seems that Eric and Stacey have made a deal with the demons of the sea in order to navigate from the land of nowhere to Jamaica in record time. Now they are forced to stay on ea forever, as the new flying dutchmen!'

I sighed. I may have never cared for Stacey, but now I feared that I was going to miss her.

Whatever, the helicopters took off into the clear blue sky when unto the Caribbean islands I waved one last good-bye.

* * *

**Chapter 17 Back At PCA**

* * *

Finally, our odyssean trip across the Caribbean seas had come to an end.

We gladly returned to PCA.

This meant that I had to say good-bye to Megan. I feared that Dustin was now going to be depressive.

Alas, Drake had good news. 'Megan will join PCA starting with next year!'

Megan grinned.

I smiled. 'That was fantastic.'

As scary as Megan had been, she would never hurt Dustin at whim, as Trisha Kirby had done.

Talking about Trisha...

Vince had barely entered the campus when Trisha threw her arms vigorously around him, smoochinh him into oblivion.

I gasped.

But it was so expectable.

Trisha had become the head of PCA's cheerleaders' troop, probably by making Makeout Mandy stumble.

Vince was still the quarterback of the team.

Cheerleaders and football heroes belong naturally together.

It had been foolish from the get-on to assume that there was a trace of a possibility for Vince and Lola to be happy together.

Dustin bounced around like crazy when he heard about Drake's and Megan's news.

I huggled the living hell out of Chase.

Still, I was not sure about our legal situation.

Quinn's uncle, a shark, had told us that we were entitled to repeat our legal wedding in order to remove the doubts about the validity of said wedding akin to international naval laws.

I sighed with relief, as this was going to be a great celebration with mom and dad, and grandma and grandad, and some of Chase's relatives, as well.

Dean Rivers did not want to believe the reports about our trip, but he blamed his halucinations for them. Since he had filed a divorce from his psychotic wife Tipper, he had strained his nerves to no end.

Tipper was determined to ruin the headmaster's life.

It was obvious that Rivers needed to be replaced as a headmaster of PCA.

He had been in this office for seven year, from the moment Chase entered this school until the moment both Chase and I were done with it.

But Dustin was now subject to get to

* * *

Home, sweet home!

101 Brenner hall was now going to be my residence, and also Quinn's and Lola's, for a few more days, or weeks.

Thereupon, our roads were bound to diverge.

Lola was going to be a great actress, along with Drake, and work towards her first Oscar.

Quinn was bound for Caltech, where she was going to study under Josh's direction — he was going to be a sophomore over there — and work towards her first Nobel Prize.

It wasn't that easy for me and Chase.

We wanted to work together as costume designer and playwright.

Unfortunately, Malcolm Reese had suffered immense financial losses from the miraculous cruise trip. He was thitherfrom unable to employ new collaborators.

On the other hand, Hollywood had never been our dream, neither mine nor Chase's.

We were much more attracted by the Broadway. If we could make it up to there, we could make it anywhere.[17:1]

Alas, we still needed to make some contacts.

Logan was going to become a professional wrestler, with Makeout Mandy as his personal cheerleader.

Michael was ready to become a comedian, using his clackers and his flute for stunts. He was going to be assisted by his future wife Taryn Davis[17:2], a girl who was able to make music on a trumpet while jumping forth and back on a spring stick.

* * *

Alas, there were still a few things left that tortured my brain.

I caught Megan before she left our campus with Drake. 'Oh, Megs, you seem to have known James garret for quite some time...'

Megan told me the story. 'Well, my first encounter with that demon was at Mystery Mountain, the location of the _Demonator_...'[17:3]

I remembered the _Spine Twister_ at same mountain.[17:4]

Megan nodded. 'But, indeed, I had already heard about him earlier, I just had not seen him. Bernard Fokke, you should know, was not the only one to ever dare to make a contract with the evil blond demon.'

I looked with dismay.

Megan grinned. 'I've told you about Mindy Crenshaw...'

I gasped. _The mean backpack plagiariser... clearly, she must have had a deal with the devil... there was no doubt about it. Why had I not thought about it arlier on? Maybe it was because before my encounter with the ghost of Charles Galloway I had not been able to believe in ghosts and demons..._ 'So she had made a deal with...'

Megan nodded solemnly. 'Yeah, a deal to become famous. Her means were plagiarism and patent theft. But you were apparently in her way, so the blond demon had decided to tackle you directly...'

I trembled with horror.

Megan told me to calm down. 'It's all over now. I became more upset whe I heard that "James" had almost seduced my cousin Carlotta, using fake name Jake Krendle. [17:5]'

I sighed. 'Fake names... over and over again...'

Megan sighed. 'Too bad it was only after I had almost been abused successively by Mindy in order to get back at you, not far from destroying PCA, that I saw the light. I became a demon-hunting witch, following the directions of already mentioned Magic Malika. I needed to protect you rigorously at any cost.'

I moaned with relief. Then I ruffled Megan's hair. 'Thanks for everything!'

Megan was not keen on getting her hair messed up.

I shrugged.

Dustin found us, and he snuggled up to Megan.

They were so cute.

My times at PCA were all but gone, and I had to leave Dustin behind, but at least I left him in the best possible hands.

**_The End_**

* * *

** 2:1**:

* * *

spoof off _Suite Life On Deck_ which I don't own

**2:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Anger Management_

**2:3**:

* * *

spoof off _Rum and Cola_ by Andrews Sisters which I don't own

**2:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Favor Chain_

**3:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Fling_

**3:2**:

* * *

Caribbean folk song, popularised by various artists, such as Harry belafonte. I don't own any version of it.

**3:3**:

* * *

Quinn mentioned that fact about spiders and insects already in _Zoey 101_ : _Quinn's Date_

**4:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Rumors Of Love_

**4:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Favor Chain_

**4:3**:

* * *

spoof off Calatel, for which Scott Halberstadt, actor portraying Eric Blonowitz, makes publicity

**5:1**:

* * *

_Zoey 101_ : _Paige At PCA_

**5:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Curse At PCA_

**5:3**:

* * *

cf. _iCarly_ : _iCarly Saves TV_

**5:4**:

* * *

cf. _iCarly_ : _iRock The Votes_

**5:5**:

* * *

song by Henry Belafonte which I don't own

**5:6**:

* * *

Dutch sailor from early seventeenth century who made the way from Indonesia to Europe almost twice as fast as generally thought possible.

**6:1**:

* * *

cartoon show which I don't own

**6:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Lola Likes Chase_

**6:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Robot Wars_

**7:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Bad Girl_, here identified with Melanie Puckett, cf. _iCarly_ : _iTwins_

**7:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Megan's First Kiss_

**7:3**:

* * *

song by Arabesque which I don't own.

**7:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Chasing Zoey_

**8:1**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Josh Is Done_

**8:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Balloon_

**9:1**:

* * *

mentioned in _Zoey 101_: _Chasing Zoey_, identified with cheerleader Mandy from _Drake & Josh_: _Football_

**10:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_: _Favor Chain_

**10:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_: _Zoey's Tutor_

**10:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_: _Little Diva_

**11:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Backpack_

**11:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh go Hollywood_

**11:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _The Play_

**14:1**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Zoey's Balloon_

**14:2**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Spring Break-Up_

**14:3**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _Hot Dean_

**14:4**:

* * *

surname is taken from same actor's rôle in _VicTorious_

**15:1**:

* * *

cf. _The iCarly Show_ : _iSpped Date_

**15:2**:

* * *

_Ship To Shore_, song by Chris de Burgh which I don't own

**16:1**:

* * *

song by Amazulu which I don't own

**16:2**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _Alliens_

**17:1**:

* * *

cf. _New York, New York_, a song by Frank Sinatra which I don't own.

**17:2**:

* * *

cf. _The iCarly Show_ : _iPilot_

**17:3**:

* * *

cf. _Drake & Josh_ : _The Demonator_ — a cameo appearance of same actor

**17:4**:

* * *

cf. _Zoey 101_ : _The Rollercoaster_

**17:5**:

* * *

cf. _The iCarly Show_ : _iLike Jake_


End file.
